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NOTES 



ON 



THE PROPOSED ABOLITION 



OF 



SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA 

IN I78S 



BY 

ALBERT MATTHEWS 



\ 
\ 



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NOTES 



ON 



THE PROPOSED ABOLITION 



OF 



SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA 

IN 1785 



BY 

ALBERT MATTHEWS 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

€l;c Colonial J>octrti? of &9as#actm0ctts 

Vol. VI. 



CAMBRIDGE 

JOHN WILSON AND SON 

SSnfoctsttg Press 

1903 







Gilt 
Author 
(Person) 



NOTES 



THE PROPOSED ABOLITION 



SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA. 



As some of the extracts I am about to read, though relating 
chiefly to the proposed abolition of slavery in Virginia in 1785, 
refer to Washington, it seemed appropriate to present them at this 
meeting. 1 

The followers of John Wesley early became prominent as 
missionaries in this country, and among the most noted of these 
were Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke, from whose writings we 
get interesting glimpses of the anti-slavery agitation. Bishop 
Asbury, referring to the Conference at Bristol, England, in 1771, 
said : — 

" Before this, I had felt for half a year strong intimations in my 
mind that I should visit America ; ... At the Conference it was pro- 
posed that some preachers should go over to the American continent. 
I spoke my mind, and made an offer of myself. It was accepted by 
Mr. Wesley and others, who judged I had a call." 2 

At once Asbury made his preparations, sailed the next month, 
and for thirteen years wandered up and down the American conti- 

1 The meeting of February, 1900. 

2 Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, New York, 1852, i. 11. 



nent, until, on 14 November, 17^4, he records that, to his great joy. 
he "met those dear men of God, Dr. Coke, and Richard Whatcoat ; 
we were greatly comforted together." ] On 24 December he mde to 
Baltimore, where he met a few preachers, and — 

"■it was agreed to form ourselves into an Episcopal Church, and to have 
superintendents, elders, and deacons. When the conference was seated, 
Dr. Coke and myself were unanimously elected to the superintendence 
of the Church, and my ordination followed, after being previously 
ordained deacon and elder." ' 2 

On 30 April, 1785, while in Virginia, he says that he — 

" found the minds of the people greatly agitated with our rules against 
slavery, and a proposed petition to the general assembly for the emanci- 

patiou of the blacks. Colonel and Doctor Coke disputed on the 

subject, and the Colonel used some threats: next day, brother O'Kelly 
let fly at them, and they were made angry enough ; we, however, came 

1 Asbury, Journal, i. 484. 

2 Ibid. i. 486. Asbury was ordained Deacon '2b December, Elder on the 
twenty-sixth, and Superintendent on the twenty-seventh, each time by Coke. It 
may be explained that the title of " Superintendent" was at first used, but was 
soon displaced by that of " Bishop." In the Minutes of the Annual Confer- 
ences for 1785, 1786, and 1787, Coke and Asbury were called Superintendents ; 
in 1788, for the first time, the two men appear as Bishops. Yet, as we have 
seen, the title of Methodist Episcopal Church was adopted at the Baltimore 
Conference of 1784. Just before leaving England, Coke had been ordained 
Superintendent by Wesley; but Wesley was utterly opposed to the assumption 
of the title of Bishop, and thus expressed himself in a letter to Asbury written 
20 September, 1788 : — 

" I low tan you, how dare you, suffer yourself to he called Bishop? I shudder, I 
start at the very thought ! Men may call me a knave or a fool ; a rascal, a scoundrel, 
and I am content: But they shall never, by my consent, call me Bishop! For my sake, 
for God's sake, for Christ's sake, nut a full end to this! " (II. Moore's Life of the Rev. 
John Wesley, ii. 340.) 

In regard to the assumption by the American Methodists of the titles of Epis- 
copal and Bishop, and the heated controversies thereby engendered, the reader 
is referred to the Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, New York, 1840, i. 21,22; Minutes of Several Conversations 
between The Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., The Rev. Francis Asbury and Others, 
etc., 1785, p. 3; J. Whitehead's Eife of the Rev. .John Wesley, ii. 41o, 417: H. 
Moore's Life of the Rev. John Wesley, ii. 327-340; E. Tyennan's Life and 
Times of the Rev. John Wesley. \.w York. 1872, iii. 435-449. 



off with whole bones, and our business in conference was finished in 
peace." * 

On 22 May, he continues, " we rode to Alexandria, to meet Dr. 
Coke," and on 26 May " we waited on General Washington, who 
received us very politely, and gave us his opinion against slavery." 2 
Later, but while still in Virginia, he relates, under date of 15 
November, that — 

" our conversation turned upon slavery; the difficulties attending eman- 
cipation, and the resentment some of the members of the Virginia legisla- 
ture expressed against those who favoured a general abolition." 3 

These remarks by Asbury form a fitting introduction to the 
extracts I have now to offer, — those, namely, taken from a book 
which appears to be little known. 4 It is entitled Extracts of the 
Journals of the Rev. Dr. Coke's Five Visits to America, 6 and was 
published at London in 1793. The author, Thomas Coke, born in 
Wales in 1747, a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1776 came 
under the influence of John Wesley,* 5 and in 1784 was urged by 

1 Asbury, Journal, i. 495. 

2 Ibid. i. 496. 

3 Ibid. i. 502. 

4 Neither our associate Mr. W. C. Ford, who found the title in a catalogue 
(but attributed to Dr. Cook) and called my attention to it, nor our associate 
Mr. L. Swift had ever seen the book. 

5 Copies will be found in the Boston Public Library and in the Harvard 
College Library. The latter has also a copy of Extracts of the Journals of the 
Rev. Dr. Coke's Three Visits to America, London, 1790. It is dedicated to 
John Wesley, and in the preface Dr. Coke says that — 

"the very favourable reception my little Journals have met with, demonstrated by 
the rapid sale of the former editions, induces me to publish the whole of them collect- 
ively ; aud to add thereto an extract of the Journal of my first visit to America, which 
was never printed before." (p. v.) 

After the death of Dr. Coke, which took place in 1814, there was published at 
Dublin, in 1816, Extracts of the Journals of the late Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D. ; 
comprising several Visits to North- America and the West-Indies ; his Tour 
through a Part of Ireland, and his nearly finished Voyage to Bombay in the 
East-Indies : To which is prefixed A Life of the Doctor. A copy of this book 
is in the Boston Public Library. 

6 Under date of 13 August, 1776, Wesley wrote : — 

" I preached at Taunton, and afterwards . . . went to Kingston. Here I found a 
clergyman, Dr. Coke, late a gentleman commoner of Jesus College, Oxford, who came 
twenty miles on purpose to meet me. I had much conversation with him ; and a union 
then began, which, I trust, shall never end." (L. Tyerman's Life and Times of the 
Rev. John Wesley, iii. 214.) 



6 

Wesley to go to the United States. Coke left England in Septem- 
ber. 1784, and reached New York the third of November. At 
once proceeding south, he made extensive tours in that section of 
the country; he ordained Asbury, as we have already seen; and on 
the fifth of April, 1785, he " dared for the first time to bear a public 
testimony against slavery," and did " not find that more than one 
was offended." : This calm was of short duration, for on the tenth 
of April he says : — 

"I had now for the first time a very little persecution. The testi- 
mony I bore in this place against slave-holding, provoked many of the 
unawakened to retire out of the barn [in which he was preaching], 
and to combine together to flog me (so they expressed it) as soon 
as I came out. A high-headed Lady also went out, and told the rioters 
(as I was afterwards informed) that she would give fifty pounds, if they 
would give that little Doctor one hundred lashes. When I came out, 
they surrounded me, but had only power to talk." 2 

Luckily his host, at whose house Coke and his fellow-preachers 
were obliged, on account of numbers, "to lie three in abed," was a 
justice of the peace, and the rage of the multitude was restrained ; 
though on the following day he narrowly escaped severe treatment, 
for — 

" Here a mob came to meet me with staves and clubs. Their plan, I 
believe, was to fall upon me as soon as I touched on the subject of 
slavery. I knew nothing of it till I had done preaching ; but not see- 
ing it my duty to touch on the subject here, their scheme was defeated. 
and they suffered me to pass through them without molestation." 3 

Undeterred by these rebuffs, he attended a quarterly meeting in 
Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 24 and 25 April, and says : — 

1 Extracts, etc., 1793, p. 33. 

7 Ibid. p. 35. The expression " high-headed," the meaning of which is per- 
haps not obvious at a glance, is explained by the following extract: — 

"Q. 18. Should we insist on die Rules concerning Dress? A. By all means. This 
is no Time to give any Encouragement to Superfluity of Apparel. Therefore give no 
Tickets ... to any that wear High-Heads, enormous Bonnets, Kuflles or Rings." 
(Minutes of Several Conversations, etc, 1785, pp. 9, 10.) 

The noun "high-head *' was not uncommon at that period, but Coke's adjective 
" highdieaded " is unrecorded in the Oxford Dictionary. 

8 Extracts, etc., 17H3, pp. 35, 30. 



" Here I bore a public testimony against Slavery, and have found out 
a method of delivering it without much offence, or at least without caus- 
ing a tumult : and that is, by first addressing the Negroes in a very 
pathetic manner on the Duty of Servants to Masters; and then the 
Whites will receive quietly what I have to say to them." 1 

The opposition to slavery was not started by Coke, for action 
against it had been taken in the Conferences for 1780 and 1783 ; 2 
but the stringent rules drawn up in 1784 were very likely due to 
Coke's influence. These rules are as follows : — 

" Q. 42. What Methods can we take to extirpate Slavery? 

"A. We are deeply conscious of the Impropriety of making new 
Terms of Communion for a religious Society already established, except- 
ing on the most pressing Occasion : and such we esteem the Practice of 
holding our Fellow-Creatures in Slavery. We view it as contrary to 
the Golden Law of God on which hang all the Law and the Prophets, 
and the unalienable Rights of Mankind, as well as every Principle of 
the Revolution, to hold in the deepest Debasement, in a more abject 
Slavery than is perhaps to be found in any Part of the World except 
America, so many Souls that are all capable of the Image of God. 

" We therefore think it our most bounden Duty, to take immediately 
some effectual Method to extirpate this Abomination from among us ; 
And for that Purpose we add the following to the Rules of our Society : 
viz. 

"1. Every Member of our Society who has Slaves in his Possession, shall 
within twelve Months after Notice given to him by the Assistant (which 
Notice the Assistants are required immediately and without any Delay to give 
in their respective Circuits) legally execute and record an Instrument, whereby 
he emancipates and sets free every Slave in his Possession who is between the 
Ages of Forty and Forty-five immediately, or at the farthest when they arrive 
at the Age of Forty-five : 

" And every Slave who is between the Ages of Twenty-five and Forty immedi- 
ately, or at farthest at the Expiration of five Years from the Date of the said 
Instrument : 

" And every Slave who is between the Ages of Twenty and Twenty -five im- 
mediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the Age of Thirty : 

" And every Slave under the Age of Twenty, as soon as they arrive at the Age 
of Twenty-five at farthest. 

" And every Infant born in Slavery after the above-mentioned Rules are com- 
plied with, immediately on its Birth. 

1 Extracts, etc., 1793, p. 37. 

2 See Minutes of the Annual Conferences, i. 12, 18, 20. 21, 24. 



8 

"2. Every Assistant shall keep a Journal, in which he shall regularly minute 
flown the Names and Ages of all the Slaves belonging to all the Masters in his 
respective Circuit, and also the Date of every Instrument executed and recorded 
for the Manumission of the Slaves, with the Name of the Court, Book and 
Folio, in which the said Instruments respectively shall have been recorded: 
Which Journal shall be handed down in each Circuit to the succeeding 
Assistants. 

" '■'>. In Consideration that these Rules form a new Term of Communion, 
every Person concerned, who will not comply with them, shall have Liberty 
quietly to withdraw himself from our Society within the twelve Months suc- 
ceeding the Notice given as aforesaid: Otherwise the Assistant shall exclude 
him in the Society. 

"4. No person so voluntarily withdrawn, or so excluded, shall ever partake of 
the Supper of the Lord with the Methodists, till he complies with the above- 
Requisitions. 

" No Person holding Slaves shall, in future, be admitted into Society or to 
the Lord's Supper, till he previously complies with these Rules concerning 
Slavery. 

" N. B. These Rules are to affect the Members of our Society no farther than 
as they are consistent with the Laws of the States in which they reside. 

" And respecting our Brethren in Virginia that are concerned, and after due 
Consideration of their peculiar Circumstances, we allow them too Years from 
the Notice given, to consider the Expedience of Compliance or Nun-Compliance 
with these Rules. 

" Q. 43. What shall be done with those who buy or sell Slaves, or 
give them away ? 

"A. They are immediately to be expelled: unless they buy them on 
purpose to free them." x 

In the first week in .May, Coke records that — 

" A great many principal friends met us here to insist on a Repeal of 
the Slave-Rules; but when they found that we had thoughts of with- 
drawing ourselves entirely from the Circuit on account of the violent 
spirit of some leading men, they drew in their horns, and sent us a very 
humble letter, intreating that Preachers might be appointed for their 
Circuit. . . . After mature consideration we formed a petition, a copy of 

1 Minutes of Several Conversations between The Rev. Thomas Coke. LL.D., 
The Rev. Francis Asbury and Others, at a Conference, begun in Baltimore, in 
the Slate nf Maryland, on Monday, the 27th. of December, in the Year 1784. 
Composing a Form of Discipline for the Ministers, Preachers and other Mem- 
bers of the Methodisl Episcopal Church in America. Philadelphia, . . . M, 
DCC, LXXXV. Pp. 15-17. A copy of this little book will be found in the 
Boston Athenaeum. 



9 

which was given to every Preacher, intreating the General Assembly 
of Virginia, to pass a Law for the immediate or gradual emanicipation 
of all the Slaves. It is to be signed by all the Freeholders we can 
procure, and those I believe will not be few. There have been many 
debates already on the subject in the Assembly." 1 

Nor was slavery his only cause for annoyance. On the fifteenth 
of May he preached to a large congregation, and says : — 

" During the sermon, after I had spoken very pointedly concerning 
the impropriety of going in and out during divine service, two dressy 
girls walked out with such an impudent air, that I rebuked them keenly. 
After the public service, whilst I was administering the sacrament, 
baptizing, and meeting the Society, their father who is a Colonel, raged 
at the outside of the Church, declaring that as soon as I came out, he 
would horse-whip me for the indignity shewn to his family. But his 
two brothers (all unawakened) took my part, and iusisted that I had 
done my duty, and the young ladies deserved it. However, finding that 
our preaching in that Church, which we do regularly, chiefly depends 
upon him, I wrote a letter of apology to him as far as the truth would 
permit, when I came to my lodging. We had a good time during the 
sermon and the Sacrament. But when I enlarged to the Society on 
Negro-Slavery, the principal leader raged like a lion, and desired to 
withdraw from the Society. I took him at his word, and appointed 
that excellent man (Brother SJceltori) Leader in his stead. When the 
Society came out of the Church, they surrounded Brother Slcelton, 
' And will you,' said they, ' Set your Slaves at liberty ? ' (He has many 
Slaves) ' Yes,' says he, ' I believe I shall.' " 2 

On the twenty-fifth of May he met at Alexandria " that dear, 
valuable man, Mr. Asbury ; " and on the twenty-sixth their visit 
to Mount Vernon took place. He writes : — 

"Mr. Asbury and I set off for General Washington's. We were en- 
gaged to dine there the day before. The General's Seat is very elegant, 
built upon the great river Potomawk; for the improvement of the 
navigation of which, he is carrying on jointly with the State some 
amazing Plans. He received us very politely, and was very open to 
access. He is quite the plain, Country-Gentleman. After dinner we 
desired a private interview, and opened to him the grand business on 

1 Extracts, etc., 1793, p. 39. 

2 Ibid. pp. 40, 41. 



10 

which we came, presenting to him our petition for the emancipation of 
the Negroes, and intreating his signature, if the eminence of his station 
did not deem it inexpedient for him to sign any petition. He informed 
us that he was of our sentiments, and had signified his thoughts on the 
subject to most of the great men of the State : that he did not see it 
proper to sigu the petition, but if the Assembly took it into considera- 
tion, would signify his sentiments to the Assembly by a letter. He 
asked us to spend the evening and lodge at his house, but our engage- 
ments at Annapolis the following day would not admit of it. We 
returned that evening to Alexandria." ' 

His experience had taught him caution, and at a conference held 
1 June at Baltimore, — 

" We thought it prudent to suspend the minute concerning Slavery, 
on account of the great opposition that had been given it. our work 
being in too infantile a state to push things to extremity." * 

Coke returned to England the same month, and though later he 
made frequent visits to this country and to the West Indies, he 
does not seem again to have visited Mount Vernon. 3 

In connection with Dr. Coke's characterization of Washington 
as " quite the plain, Country-Gentleman," it is pertinent to quote 
an extract from a letter which our associate Mr. Ford has just 

1 Extracts, etc., 1793, p. 45. 

- Ibid. p. 4G. The official record is as follows : — 

" It is recommended to all our brethren to suspend the execution of the minute on 
slavery till the deliberations of a future Conference ; that an equal space of time be 
allowed all our members for consideration, when the minute shall be put in force. 
iV. B. We do hold in the deepest abhorrence the practice of slavery ; and shall not 
cease to seek its destruction by all wise and prudent means." (Minutes of the Annual 
Conferences, i. 24.) 

In 1795 it was recommended that a general fast be held for the purpose, among 
other things, of lamenting "the deep-rooted vassalage that still reigneth in 
many parts of these free, independent United States ; " while in a recommenda- 
tion for a general thanksgiving, it was remarked that "for African liberty, 
we feel gratitude that many thousands of these poor people are lie.' and pious." 
(Minutes, etc., i. G4.) Thereafter all references to slavery apparently disappear 
from the Minutes. 

8 In 17S9 a congratulatory address was sent to Washington by the Metho- 
dists at their Conference, much to the disturbance of the English Wesleyans. 
Washington's reply to this address will be found in Sparks's edition of his 
Writings, \ii. 1."):;. 151. 



11 

placed in my hands. It is dated Philadelphia, 25 December, 1783, 
shortly after Washington had taken his departure, and is interest- 
ing as having been written to Elias Boudinot by that arch-enemy 
of Washington, Dr. Benjamin Rush. It is as follows : — 

" Our beloved Gen Washington left us a few days ago after receiving 
a thousand marks of respect & affection from all classes of people. In 
his way to Baltimore he was caught in a shower of rain, & sought a 
shelter from it in the common stage waggon. When the waggon came 
to a tavern, the tavern keeper, who knew him, received him with the 
greatest respect, & offered to prepare a dinner for him & his aids in a 
separate room. ' No — no,' said the General, ' It is customary for 
travellers in this waggon to dine together. — I will dine nowhere but in 
this common room with these my fellow passengers,' & accordingly sat 
down & ate his dinner like any other Virginia planter with them. This 
act throws a greater lustre over his character than all his victories. It 
shows him to be a man — a citizen — & a philosopher. His victories 
can only denominate him a General." : 

Allusions to this early attempt to abolish slavery in Virginia 
appear to be rare, but we can trace out the result from other sources 
of information. On Tuesday, 8 November, 1785, there was pre- 
sented and read, in the Virginia House of Deputies, — 

" Also, a petition of sundry persons, whose names are thereunto sub- 
scribed ; setting forth, that they are firmly persuaded, that it is contrary 
to the fundamental principles of the christian religion, to keep so con- 
siderable a number of our fellow creatures, the negroes in this State, 
in slavery; that it is also an express violation of the principles upon 
which our government is founded ; and that a general emancipation of 
them, under certain restrictions, would greatly contribute to strengthen 
it, by attaching them by the ties of interest and gratitude, to its sup- 
port ; and praying that an act may pass to that effect. 

" Also, a petition of sundry inhabitants of the county of Mecklen- 
burg, whose names are thereunto subscribed, in opposition thereto ; and 
praying that the act, ' empowering the owners of slaves to emancipate 
them ; ' may be repealed. 

" Ordered, That the said petitions do severally lie on the table." 2 



1 The extract occurs in a letter written 23 November, 1854, by J. W. Wal- 
lace to Dr. Griswold, from an original in the possession of Wallace. 

2 Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, etc., 
Richmond, 1828, p. 27. The reference is to " An act to authorize the manu- 



12 

On Thursday, the tenth of November, — 

" On a motion made, The House proceeded to consider the petition 
of sundry persons presented on Tuesday last, which lay on the table, 
praying for a general emancipation of slaves, and the same being read : 

" A motion was made, and the question being put, to reject the said 
petition, 

" It passed in the affirmative, nemine contra dicente. 

" Besolved, That the said petition be rejected." 1 

These entries show the fate of the petition. From Madison we 
get something more than the bare details. Writing to Washington 
11 November, 1785, he says : — 

" The pulse of the House of Delegates was felt on Thursday with 
regard to a general manumission, by a petition presented on that sub- 
ject. It was rejected without dissent, but not without an avowed 
patronage of its principles by sundry respectable members. A motion 
was made to throw it under the table, which was treated with as much 
indignation on one side as the petition itself was on the other. There 
are several petitions before the House against any step towards freeing 
the Slaves, and even praying for a repeal of the law which licenses 
particular manumissions." 2 

Again, writing 22 January, 1786, to Jefferson, then in France, 
Madison says : — 

" Several petitions (from Methodists chiefly) appeared in favor of a 
gradual abolition of slavery, and several from another quarter for a re- 
peal of the law which licenses private manumissions. The former was 
not thrown under the table, but was treated with all the indignity short 
of it. A proposition for bringing in a bill conformably to the latter 
was decided in the affirmative by the casting vote of the Speaker; but 
the bill was thrown out on the first reading by a considerable majority." 8 

Finally, from Jefferson himself we get light as to the cause of the 
failure of the petition. Under date of 22 June, 1786, he says : — 

" Of the two commissioners who had concerted the amendatory clause 
for the gradual emancipation of slaves Mr. Wythe could not be present 

mission of slaves," passed in May, 1782, by which, under certain conditions, 
manumission was permitted. (See the Virginia Statutes at Large, xi. 39.) 

1 Journal of the House of Delegates, etc., p. 31. 

3 Madison's Letters and Other Writings, i. 199, 200. 

* Ibid. i. 217, 1218. 



> 



as being a member of the judiciary department, and Mr. Jefferson was 
absent on the legation to France. But there wanted not in that assembly 
men of virtue enough to propose, & talents to vindicate this clause. 
But they saw that the moment of doing it with success was not yet 
arrived, and that an unsuccessful effort, as too often happens, would 
only rivet still closer the chains of bondage, and retard the moment of 
delivery to this oppressed description of men." 1 

Jefferson concludes with one of those vigorous denunciations of 
slavery to which he so often gave vent. 

1 Jefferson's Writings, edited by P. L. Ford, iv. 184, 185. 






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